You are here:Home→Review→Turkish Press Review - Monday, January 19, 2015

Turkish Press Review - Monday, January 19, 2015

Monday, January 19, 2015

Turkish dailies on Monday covered President Erdogan’s chairing of a cabinet meeting as well as the commemorations for Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, killed in 2007

ISTANBUL - The Anadolu Agency does not verify these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

“The cabinet at the palace,” headlines HURRIYET, referring to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s decision to chair a cabinet meeting in the new presidential palace in the capital Ankara.

This constitutes a rare occurrence as the Prime Minister is usually the one to chair the weekly cabinet meetings.

“The nation’s cabinet at the nation’s palace,” titles AKSAM. The daily says the cabinet will discuss the solution process - which aims to ease longtime tense relations with the country’s Kurdish minority - Turkey’s EU membership, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant , the fight against “Islamophobia” as well as “the parallel structure,” an alleged group of bureaucrats embedded in the country's institutions, including the judiciary and the police.

Erdogan announced on Dec. 29, 2014 that he would chair a cabinet meeting. He added that the president was the head of the state and could use the powers granted to him by the Constitution to lead the government.

Several news outlets covered the planned commemorations to take place on Monday for Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, killed in 2007.

Dink was the editor-in-chief of the weekly Agos, and was considered to be one of the most prominent Armenian voices in Turkey.

VATAN daily reports that a march is planned to commemorate Dink’s death on Monday, claiming that thousands of people are expected to attend the rally. “People will march from Taksim Square to (…) Agos weekly,” VATAN added.

“Dink’s death still mystery,” titles AKSAM while CUMHURIYET says, “Dink’s murder is in the dark.”

Although Dink's murderer, Ogun Samast, who was 17 years old at the time, was tried and convicted in 2011, Turkey's Constitutional Court ruled in July 2014 that the case of the Turkish Armenian writer’s murder had been an "ineffective investigation.”

A new case was launched regarding possible negligence by certain officers in Dink’s killing. Some former senior police officers have been questioned and others arrested in an ongoing court case.

A decision to cancel an anti-Islam rally in Germany was also covered by several Turkish dailies.

VATAN daily says anti-Islam movement Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West (PEGIDA) cancelled the march because of security reasons. HURRIYET says PEGIDA’s decision came after Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant threats against the march.

The group started weekly protests in Dresden in October with around 500 protesters, but, last Monday, more than 25,000 protesters attended PEGIDA’s rally in the eastern city.